Mr. de Blasio needs a new lesson plan

By David Bloomfield

|NEW YORK DAILY NEWS|

Sep 07, 2016 | 5:00 AM

Chief education officer (Susan Watts/New York Daily News)

By normal measures, Mayor de Blasio's first 2 1/2 years running the nation's largest school system have been a success. He can argue that test scores and graduation rates are up, accountability has been softened with broader measures in school report cards and a tamer discipline code, and his signature universal prekindergarten initiative is widely hailed.

Yet New York City voters are remarkably squeamish about his overall education record. An Aug. 2 Quinnipiac poll found only 23% favor his maintaining unilateral control of city schools, 46% disapprove of his handling of the schools, and only 33% approve of his appointee Chancellor Carmen Fariña's job performance.

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Much of this dissatisfaction can be laid at the feet of a well-funded lobbying campaign by anti-union charter school advocates, aided and abetted by Gov. Cuomo and the state Senate Republican majority. Using broadcast and print advertising, a constant barrage of negative press releases, large rallies and other means, wealthy political and charter donors have routinely used the media to paint an exaggerated picture of public school dysfunction.

But as has so often has been the case, criticism has hit home because of certain underlying truths and the mayor's inability to counter opponents' narrative.

On the question of charter schools — independently run public schools that now educate 10% of public school children — de Blasio initially made the mistake of equating the entire sector with the Success Academies run by his political rival Eva Moskowitz. A reflection of their hard-driving CEO, those schools, with test scores that often outdistance other charters as well as public schools, have run into their own problems with a "got to go" list targeting problem students and harsh disciplinary policies.

The mayor has since changed course, emphasizing distinctions within the charter community, which could belatedly enlarge his base and reduce some of the friction dragging his polls.

Management has also been a problem. The rollout of the mayor's expensive, ambitious Community Schools and Renewal Schools programs was slow and remains confused. Principals complain about micromanagement by newly empowered community superintendents, and an array of new initiatives, including Computer Science for All, Algebra for All, AP for All and more, create multiple long-term time lines for planning and implementation that the bureaucracy will find hard to coordinate.

De Blasio's foot-dragging and hypocrisy on school desegregation has gnawed at his heels since "a tale of two cities" became his mayoral campaign's rallying cry. In repeated statements since the election, both he and Fariña have back-pedaled on a unitary system, defending the racial and income divides among schools salved by a doctrine that suspiciously mimics separate but equal. In last September's "Equity and Excellence" opening-of-school speech, he shockingly failed to address school and program diversity.

But the mayor's biggest problem in making the case for a successful education agenda is the well-known arrogance that marks his public persona. Though he often touts that he's the first mayor to also be a public school parent, in touch with their concerns, he rarely meets with parents in town hall-style events, conveying a know-it-all mien in dealing with school issues.

The problem with "Equity and Excellence" was not only his failure to recognize the Equity elephant in the room, it was the plethora of top-down programs with little coherent vision and apparently no parental input.

Running the schools is a hard enough job without the political imperative of juicing the system with constant announcements of how it's new and improved. The mayor's challenge this school year is convincing a still-skeptical public that he is capable of meeting parental demands.

Bloomfield is professor of education leadership, law and policy at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center.